Chapter 2: Early Life and Learning, Behaviour and Health

Biological and social scientists have made significant advances in understanding how experience-based brain development in the early years affects learning, behaviour and mental and physical health. Our earliest experiences, beginning at conception, shape our brain and biological systems for life. Integrating knowledge from many disciplinary approaches is difficult. The application of this knowledge towards societal improvements to enhance human development is more difficult. But the synthesis of findings from animal and human studies, birth cohort data, population data, observational studies and clinical trials establishes a compelling transdisciplinary approach to understanding human development.